A Legacy of Stewardship 

Marshview

Preserving Gullah farming traditions and food culture in South Carolina  Story and photo by LeeAnn Chisolm Morrissette  [This article was previously published in the spring issue of  the Cultivator, Cornucopia’s quarterly newsletter.]  I met Sara’ Reynolds Green, lovingly referred to as “Mama Sara’,” and her husband Bill when I was commissioned to interview them for The Southeastern African American Farmers’ Organic Network… Read more »

Soil Matters: Below the Surface of Authentic Organic

Carrots

[This article was previously published in the spring issue of  the Cultivator, Cornucopia’s quarterly newsletter. Donate today to protect organic integrity and receive our summer issue in print.] The Cornucopia Institute is adamant that the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) enforce the required management of the living soil. Authentic organic farmers are systems thinkers who… Read more »

The Cultivator – Spring 2021

Spring-Cultivator-2021

The Spring 2021 Cultivator, Cornucopia’s quarterly newsletter, is now available online. Download the PDF. In it you’ll find: Cornucopia’s New Executive Director is Building Bridges Organic Policy Watch The True Cost of Industrial Beef Kalamazoo People’s Food Coop is Nourishing Community A Legacy of Stewardship in South Carolina Soil Matters

What Unfolding Policy Means for Happy Calves On Authentic Organic Farms

calf

A new rule is coming. And it’s desperately needed to ensure that healthy calves from organic cows grow up eating grass alongside their relatives. That scenario is commonplace among Cornucopia’s five-cow-rated dairies. But in industrialized organic dairies, scofflaws have long flouted existing  “origin of livestock” rules, continuously transitioning conventional animals into production despite the fact that the organic… Read more »

There Is No Normal Anymore

North Dakota seed breeders safeguard the future of food By Marianne Landzettel  Theresa Podoll breathed a cautious sigh of relief. The harvest on her North Dakota farm had gone well and, at the time of our conversation in early October, snow was absent from the forecast for the rest of the month.  “In 2018 and 2019, we had snow on the ground… Read more »

Melody Morrell Named Executive Director of The Cornucopia Institute

Melody_morrell

Ushering in a New Leadership Era With a Fierce Protector of Organic Viroqua, WI –  Following many months of teamwork to navigate a founder transition, the board of The Cornucopia Institute voted unanimously to promote longtime staff member Melody Morrell as the organization’s next executive director. “Melody Morrell has served as the backbone of Cornucopia… Read more »

More of the Same? Vilsack to Return to USDA

Vilsack

Here’s a quixotic scenario: a secretary of agriculture who is cozy with farmers, not corporations. Instead, we are preparing for the return of Tom Vilsack, who served as secretary of agriculture in the Obama administration between 2008 and 2016. Most recently, Vilsack worked in the private sector, as president and CEO of the US Dairy… Read more »

The Truth Matters: Cornucopia’s Quest to Expose Organic Grain Fraud

grainfarm

This article was previously published in the winter issue of  the Cultivator, Cornucopia’s quarterly newsletter. By Michele Marchetti, Co-Director of Development and Communications at The Cornucopia Institute Huddled inside a trade show booth, Anne Ross, JD watched dozens of icons, each representing an international shipping vessel, inch across a computer screen. Behind the scenes of the… Read more »

The Cultivator – Winter 2020

WinterCultivator2020

The Winter 2020 Cultivator, Cornucopia’s quarterly newsletter, is now available online. Download the PDF. In it you’ll find: Why I farm, by Cornucopia Board President Cameron Molberg Exposing Organic Grain Fraud North Dakota Seed Breeders, Prairie Road Organic Seed Welcoming Back Charlotte Vallaeys We Need You Revisiting the Origin of Livestock Rule